Recovery

When you look at North America on a map you realize that it's a really big place. When you drive across even a small portion of it you understand that it's fricken huge. I returned from Connecticut yesterday and there really aren't words to describe how tired I am. I had a wonderful time. I saw the west end of lake Ontario for the first time. The end without islands, the end that makes Lake Ontario look like an ocean. Really, I've never seen anything like that.

During the trip I stood in the middle of Times Square (totally overwhelming), walked on the beach with M, dipping my feet in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, I saw the campus of Yale University and became nostalgic for my years at Queen's and had a good look at what I want in the long term future. Add to that a 13 hour drive with two very upset cats that were moving to New Haven and 3 days of moving friends and you've got a pretty intense trip.

While I'm beyond tired and am having shakes when I think about the move to Toronto next Saturday, the trip was exactly what I needed. It was great being in a place where it was phyiscally impossible for me to do anything about my job or move worries. So I had to chill and enjoy myself. Of course, doing a little bit of retail therapy at the Times Square Sephora did hurt one little bit either.

I actually made some notes for my blog and I may get around to posting those sometime soon. Until then it's time to prep for the move and get some exercise in.

Today's sing-a-long song: It's hard to choose a song as I spent a lot of the trip listening to US radio. I'm going to have to choose the song that's still in my head.

"In Da Club" by 50 Cent

HRH

On The Road Again

Just when I thought I could travel no more I'm on a 12:30 train to Toronto. But the journey doesn't end there...no. On Sunday M, his step-brother Dan, Dan's fiancee Laura and I become an uber car convoy and move Dan and Laura to Hartford. Yes, I get to see the dark and dismal depths of Northern New York State again, but I also get to visit a new state... Connecticut.

Once M and I help the movees move in, we're going to take a trip west to NYC. I haven't been there since I was 15 years old and I'm pretty sure that in the 11 years that have passed things look awfully different. This time I'm going to Tiffany's and no one is going to stop me, damn it!

So basically what I'm saying is I don't expect to be blogging again until Thursday. So take care, eat your veggies and hope that I don't actually explode with joy when I set foot on 5th Avenue.

Today's sing-a-long song: "New York state of mind" by Billy Joel.

HRH

How to be a Jackass

This post is not about how amused I am by the show "Jackass" or about how totally wrong that amusement is.

It's power conservation time here in Ontario. Lights are dimmed in stores, people with windows are foregoing air conditioning and people in apartments are turning them up a notch. Much loved appliances like dishwashers, washing machines and dryers should only be used between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. (if possible, hang things on a clothes line), use microwaves instead of ovens and take showers instead of baths.

There is some speculation if the era of gratuitous power consumption is over. Our ever growing population sure sucks back a whole lotta energy. Indeed a paradigm shift from the thrifty watching their power use to everyone watching their power use is on it's way.

Today, there are still threats of rolling blackouts. I've just stared at the mountain of laundry that needs to be done and gone back to the age old tradition of handwashing my dishes. The rents have started work at 7 a.m. and come home at 3 p.m. in an effort to ease the dinner time power drain. In fact, at the hospital where my mother works, she was sent home around 2 p.m. because we were on the verge of using more power than we had. I'm doing my miniscule part to save power and am waiting until 9 p.m. to have the shower that I've really been needing all day.

Knowing this you can imagine my disgust when an elderly neighbour of ours started using some sort of outdoor vacuum on his lawn and driveway. I thought to myself "maybe it's gas powered?" but as my mother walked to the end of the driveway to take a peak, she clearly saw that this device was plugged in.

First of all... who the heck vacuums their lawn? I mean really. You have to wonder if this massive power problem is caused by a North American nesting instinct that compels us to buy and use really pointless powered shit. A lawn vacuum? Second...the entire area is at risk for rolling blackouts. We're in a power consumption crisis and have been asked to use power sparingly on the basis of necessity. There is just nothing that I can imagine that makes vacuuming your lawn a necessity. Did I mention that I haven't showered yet?

The best part was when my father walked over to his man's home and politely let him know about the power situation to which the man yelled, like loud enough so that we could hear it 5 houses away "I KNOW!" and the turned his lawn vacuum on again. When my father returned to our lot he pulled his pocket knife out of his pocket and said "I really wanted to just cut the cord on that thing."

Today's sing-a-long song: "Neighbourhood" by Ugly Kid Joe

HRH

Has nothing to do with Football

I need a job or a new hobby. Or at least another thing to photoshop.

Header 1
Header 2
Header 3
Header 4
Header 5
Header 6

HRH

Learn To Face The Strange

Here's blog look number 3. A bit more feminine and a lot less nerdy. I've happily discovered that redesigning my blog is a lot like colouring my hair... only without the pesky growing out period. If you'd like to see the Christmas design done by the sister and myself you can check the archives (July and earlier) for a flash to the past. I'd like you to think that I did that on purpose... but I didn't. Feedback away!

Today's sing-a-long song: "Changes" by David Bowie.

HRH

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

"Makeover!"

As I'm sure you'll be able to tell from the rampant errors and the pending "You did a decent job for someone who knows as little as you do, but now I'm going to make it actually work" from Mike, I did this one all by myself. Nerdy header and all. Let me know what you think. If it's, well, too purple we can return to the Rivendell theme at the drop of a hat.

HRH

Would This Qualify As...

Over-coordinating? If I had a lot of money and less sense, I would be all over these.

Today's Sing-a-long song: "Eye In The Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project

HRH

Phase complete

I don't think I can handle much more driving. It's only a couple of weeks until I move to Toronto, so I know I won't be spending the rest of my life on the highway, but seriously the two months have been totally out of hand. I remember I used to like driving, but I guess during my years in Prague I become really fond of being the passenger. Well it only looks like I have a handful of drives left. 2 drives to Toronto and 1 back to Kingston and 1 big one to Connecticut to help M's stepbrother and his financee move to Hartford.

Speaking of fiancees, two more of my dearest friends have decided to take the plunge. However, as one of them is a blogger in this family of blogs, we can just wait for him to break the news to everyone. Just prepare yourselves for it.

Me? I'm good. I survived the black out quite nicely. We only lost power in Kingston for 5 hours and M, my sister and I had left Toronto a mere 45 minutes before it happened. Having enough gas for the trip home was our only big concern. In fact, when the lights came on and M, Mum and I were in an intense game of candle lit trivial pursuit, it was almost like the magic had been broken.

I'm sure people who had to throw away the entire contents of their fridge, boil drinking water and use the "gravity method" to flush their toilets saw no magic in the situation whatsoever.

HRH

Chelsea's big day

In some faiths, Saturday is considered a day of rest... a Sabbath if you will (granted the etymology of Saturday is actually a reference to the Roman god Saturn, but anyway). It's a good thing I'm an atheist, because I did not rest today. I went and went all day and barrels of fun.

The day started early (like on the road at 07:30) with a jaunt across the border to Watertown. I was in poor form as I'd been up until 4 a.m. with raging allergies, but made due in the back seat with a pillow and blanket. I didn't sleep, but horizontal is much better than vertical when you're groggy. The guard on the US side was very friendly (chatty in fact), while the Canadian guard we encountered upon our return was just down right snotty. It seems my string of luck with the CCRA is coming to an end. The US was much as I'd remembered it... fat, friendly and seriously lacking in Canadian flags. Sadly I didn't get a chance to visit a Target, like I'd vowed I would when I was on American soil again. Someday... someday.

We were back in Kingston by noon and after a quick lunch we were off to the boat for some Scuba diving. It's been about 2 years since I was last breathing underwater. I've been a certified open water diver for about 10 years. I was pretty avid during highschool and the beginning of University, but weekend jobs and warm boys in my bed kept me away from my weekend pastime. What with the unemployment and my warm boy being 300 km away, it seemed like a good time to get back to it.

I was a little worried about it. My father (and dive buddy) has gotten into technical diving, which is basically done by the best of the best of the best of the best of the best in the world. So he's been diving with some pretty hard core people, and his buoyancy control is just out of this world now. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be good enough to dive with, especially since I haven't been under for a couple of years now.

I'm a really good sport diver. I thought about making it my career for awhile, but realized that might entail looking for dead bodies and took a pass on it. One of my out there notions in life is to take a couple of years off, move to the Caribbean and be a dive master for a while. A short term job with a minimal body count.

So anyways, I'm good at it, by Dad is elite at it. It turns out that all my worries were in vain as we had a great time. We dove on my favourite wreck, The Comet and I got to do somersaults off the paddle wheels. Aside from some issues clearing my right ear (which cleared on the 30th attempt... Never give up, never surrender), it was an excellent dive for me. It's kind of neat to be diving on mixed gases now. I feel so hardcore saying "I was diving on Nitrox." I miss diving a lot. In fact I've missed the water more than I'd realized. My mum commented to me today as I was swimming after the dive "You're still a fish." When I was growing up, if the lake wasn't frozen, I was in it.

You'd think that after all that I'd be done for the day, but no. Mum and I did some shopping and then all 3 of us took the RIB to "Surface Interval" (the big boat) to put on the cover for the evening. The RIB has become one of my favourite things about being at home. Dad and I take it out any time the water is flat enough, usually to one of the near by harbours to pick up some Tim Horton's. Unlike the big boat, which is kept at the Olympic Harbour, the RIB launches from our back yard. I've taken to calling it Adam. I think I like it the best because I always get to drive it. I know some people may find it lame that I'm having fun with my parents, but I don't care. They drive me nuts sometimes, but most of the time they're two really good friends. I had a really great time with them today.

So now, after all that excitement, and finishing packing for my trip to Muskoka lake tomorrow, I think I can say that I've been busy. I'll be away from the blog for most of this week, as I'm up north until Wednesday, then Wednesday night is Tori (weee!), Thursday I return to Kingston with just enough time to do laundry, and then it's off to The Gatineau for 5 days. I'm getting pretty busy for an unemployed girl.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Under The Sea" from The Little Mermaid

HRH

Border run

It's been at least 6 years since I've been south of the border (and no, that doesn't mean Mexico). You'd think, given the fact that I live in a border town, I'd make it State side more often. But, I've been slacking. For the first 20 years of my life, I was in the US a lot. Vacations, shopping trips, basketball camps, wheaties runs because Michael Jordan was on the box, there were no shortages of reasons for going.

Tomorrow I will be going back to the US. Only for the morning and only for a shopping trip. It is the first time in my life that I will be using my passport to cross "the world's longest unguarded border." I still can't get my head around that. It's the first time that I'll be crossing and actually worrying about getting in. My passport was issued in Prague (the old one expired during my time there), which means it's not machine readable. I don't really know if it's going to be a problem, but from what I've been observing and hearing about boarder crossings, these days you want to be sure that you don't stand out. After dealing with the Czech police for being a Canadian, I don't think I can handle much more grumpy guard behaviour.

I'm only going to Watertown, so I don't know if I'll be able to tell if there's really a difference between pre and post 911 northern New York. I still expect it to be a hole, but what remains to be seen is how paranoid the inhabitants of said hole are. Oh, I just realized I get to hear American accents again. Weeee. Wish me luck getting across. They shouldn't have a problem with me. I'm coming to shop and bolster the fledgling American economy.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Banditos" by The Refreshments

HRH

Oops I did it again

Sorry about the absentee blogger thing. Whenever I go to Toronto, I am usually cut of from the Internet. It's a scary thing to deal with, but it is through adversity that we grow stronger. So yay strength.

I had a second interview this week. While they did call me for references the next day, I still think that I totally beefed it. I really came out of it feeling like something didn't click. I didn't feel that I sparkled. Who knows. If it doesn't work out, I'm still in the running for another position at the organization and frankly, I think I'm better suited for it. I have no doubt that I could do the things required of the first job, but I know that I would completely kick ass all over the place in the second one. The person hiring for the second job really seems to like me, but I'm also 1 of 300 candidates... stress... oh how I loathe thee.

While I don't have employment secured, it seems that I do have a home. Not a home I can pay for... but a home I've taken drape measurements for. It looks like M and I will be moving into the lovely area of High Park. In fact, our balcony will be looking out over said park. Yay park! The place is really cool and the deal is exceptionally sweet. It's a Victorian home (circa 1902) that's been turned into apartments. We are taking the attic level, which means that we're going to have a decorating adventure with all the sloped walls. I'm totally excited. I'll take an old place with character over a box any day (look at my homes in Prague and downtown Kingston and you'll see that I'm being pretty consistent with my MO). So basically we need to secure some sort of employment soon. If nothing pans out by the end of August, I'm just going to get a Jill job and make ends meet until the big job search is successful. Maybe it's time to put on those waitressing shoes again? There's no way it could be worse than the Joyce...

Oh and a total tangent note to Tania. Remember how we were once talking about cities that could burn to the ground and we wouldn't shed a tear watching them crumble. My wish has not come true, as Edmonton still stands (which is good because Ian and Tania are there), but it looks like Tania's got some evil mojo going on... look at what's happening to Kamloops. Oh my!

Today's sing-a-long song: "Sympathique" by Pink Martini.

HRH

Mum to the rescue

When my mother got back from her carving course yesterday (my mum carves birds for fun and is great at it) she picked up on my crappy mood right away. She tried the usual techniques for cheering up a Chelsea. She tried to feed me and she checked to see if I'd gotten enough sleep. It's tested and true since I was born. If neither of those solutions work, it's time for retail therapy. So we went shopping yesterday. I came out of it with 2 pairs of cute shorts, a dress and a Tommy Hilfiger sweater you could just die for. In fact Mum and I were so impressed with it, we both left the store with one.

Despite my finds, I still felt like I was under a dark cloud. Actually, if you think about it, I really like rain, so a dark could would almost be a good thing, so let's change that metaphor ("You know what hurts the second most, Joan?") I felt like I'd been left in the desert sun with Johnny Cash's stylist. Things were not looking up, although I had some very cute shorts. I did some belly dancing, about an hour's worth, and that made me smile for sure. But as I was reading before bed the gloom came back. I'm reading this book called The Devil Wears Prada and it's the story of a young girl working as a personal assistant for a high powered fashion editor. I know it's supposed to be a book reflecting the evils of horrible bosses and the like, but all I could think while reading it was "suck it up bitch. Your boss is a demon, but I could so do you job a million times better than you are. At least you have a job, whiner."

I'm telling off fictional people in books now. Sigh.

Anyway, the weepys turned into a funk and stuck with me for most of today. Mum came back from her carving class and decided it was time to take another pass at retail. I think it scared her a little that the mall wasn't making me happy, but in fact sadder. So over dinner at a local eatery I let it all spill. All my frustrations and anxieties, disappointments and tidbits of self-loathing. I managed not to bawl, though I did have to dab at the eyes a little with a cute gingham napkin (it was a tex-mex place). The crux of my distress was this feeling that all the independence and self-confidence that I'd earned in Prague was gone. I'm stuck in a situation where I have no control, am totally dependent and am not producing anything of value.

Mum and I talked for a couple of hours and while my situation has not changed, I do feel better having expressed it all. It's good to know that what I'm feeling is normal and I'm not sliding into depression. My blues are dependent upon the situation I'm in, not on the person that I am. And that gives me hope. So thanks for all the words of encouragement guys. Mum pointed out that if I wasn't stressing out about my life, she'd really be worried about me.

Today's Sing-a-long song: "P.I.M.P. Remix" by 50 Cent featuring Snoop Dogg.

HRH